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Blessing Of Burntisland: Firth Of Forth, Fife

Craft (Possible), Sailing Vessel (By Form/type)

Site Name Blessing Of Burntisland: Firth Of Forth, Fife

Classification Craft (Possible), Sailing Vessel (By Form/type)

Alternative Name(s) Blessing; Burntisland Road, Burnisland Harbour; Blessing Of Burntisland

Canmore ID 147079

Site Number NT28SW 8008

NGR NT 22280 83723

Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/147079

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Fife
  • Parish Maritime - Fife
  • Former Region Fife
  • Former District Maritime
  • Former County Not Applicable

Archaeology Notes

NT28SW 8008 2228 8372

N 56 2.407 W 3 14.856

NLO: Burntisland [name: NT 235 858].

In July 1633, a boat at the ferry between Burntisland and Leith foundered in a fair summers day, according to Spalding, and with it perished 35 domestic servants of Charles I, with his silver plate and household stuff. Balfour states that there was a great storm and that the king crossed 'in grate jeopardy of his lyffe', and that only 8 servants perished.

Source: Fifeshire Advertiser, 2 June 1883.

Designated: DHW 1999 No. 186 (S.8).

(Undated) information in NMRS.

The Blessing is recorded as having been lost in a storm on 10 July 1633 during King Charles I's coronation tour of Scotland; only two courtiers survived. The vessel was possibly built of Baltic timber to a Dutch design, and may have carried treasure to a value of #100,000, a sum possibly equivalent to one-sixth of the entire Scottish exchequer.

Intermittent survey operations between 1991 and 1997 failed to locate the wreck, but in 1998 Mr J Longton suggested a new location on the basis of map dowsing and an anomaly reported by HMS Roebuck. Reconnaissance operations in that year by Mr Howard Murray and Mr Ian Archibald (of the Burntisland Heritage Trust) recorded 'ribs and other structural traces of a substantial unknown vessel' beneath the seabed with only small portions apparent above it. No artifacts were reported as having been discovered and no evidence has been published for the identity of the vessel.

No location for the discovery was initially published, but the Designation Order (dated 29 January 1999, to apply from 22 February 1999) defines the restricted area as a circle of 100m diameter around 56 02.407N 003 14.856W. No detailed description is given, but the location cited equates to an NGR of NT 22280 83722, placing the remains about 0.9nm SW of Burntisland harbour entrance, in a charted depth of 21m and just SW of the recommended channel to Braefoot Bay terminal.

Burntisland Roads (noted by the Hydrographic Office as Burntisland Road) is an extensive but ill-defined area of mooring grounds in a depth of between about 10 and 30m and centred around 56 02.7N 003 14.0W. Hilly ground affords protection to the N but the area is exposed to the SW, S and SE. The bottom is a mixture of sand, mud, coal and shell, and diving conditions are generally poor on account of reduced visibility by virtue of suspended mud and sand.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 8 November 2000.

HO chart 736 (1995 edition); NMRS, MS/829/14 and MS/829/26.

Variously described as a 'ferry', 'bark' or 'pinnace', the Blessing sank on Wednesday 10 July 1633 while carrying (together with another vessel) part of the baggage train and a number of passengers from Burntisland to Leith. The identities of the recorded victims and the recorded existence of carts attached to their department within the Royal Household suggest that the cargo comprised primarily kitchen and dining equipment, and possibly the wardrobe.

H J Murray 1999.

(The Blessing, Burntisland: site no. 49). In 2001, the licensee (Mr I Archibald) and his team extended their survey to the E of the site. Both magnetometer and sidescan surveys were undertaken revealing another, possibly significant, anomaly. However, a visual search by divers failed to reveal any evidence of archaeological remains.

See: www.kingcharles wrex.co.uk.

Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites 2004.

The area of this suggested wreck was examined by Wessex Archaeology between the 2nd and 6th August 2004 under a contract for a Designated Site Assessment issued by Historic Scotland in relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973). Geophysical survey was carried out using sidescan sonar; recorded anomalies were not verified by divers.

The following positions were noted:

Statutory Instrument Position: N56 2.407 W3 14.856 [NT 2228 8372] (OSGB-36)

Site Position 2004: N56 2.403 W3 14.991 [NT 2214 8371] (OSGB-36)

The seabed around the wreck varies between about 23m and 17m in depth. The bottom is mainly flat and muddy, with areas of gravely sand. The underlying bedrock slopes towards the N, being covered by up to 15m depth of sediment.

The diver survey grid established by Burntisland Heritage Trust falls within the Designated area, and forms the major group of recognised anomalies. Further anomalies were identified beyond the Designated area

No evidence of the wreck of the Blessing was identified in survey.

(Detailed recommendations are made, the history of the ship is summarised, and recorded anomalies are tabulated. Illustrations include location plan and selected sidescan sonar imagery).

MS/2786.

Activities

Magnetometry (29 September 1995)

[No accurate location cited]. The cannon was discovered during the backfilling of a trench for a new sewerage outfall, and was reported as being found in the bottom of the trench, about 1.5m below the seabed. It was removed by the council engineers and retained in seawater. The area of discovery lies about 460m offshore in a mixed sediment of sand, silt, clay, and stones of different sizes. There was little weed growth around the location, which has been heavily disturbed by grab-dredging, and lies within the area of the RN degaussing range.

The area around the discovery was investigated by diver and magnetometry by ADU. No further archaeological material was noted.

Both ADU and the staff of the National Museums of Scotland identified the cannon as a six-pounder piece of late 18th century date and indeterminate origin. Apart from localised damage, it remained in reasonable condition, with little concretion.

MS 5443.

Note (8 November 2000)

The Blessing is recorded as having been lost in a storm on 10 July 1633 during King Charles I's coronation tour of Scotland; only two courtiers survived. The vessel was possibly built of Baltic timber to a Dutch design, and may have carried treasure to a value of #100,000, a sum possibly equivalent to one-sixth of the entire Scottish exchequer.

Intermittent survey operations between 1991 and 1997 failed to locate the wreck, but in 1998 Mr J Longton suggested a new location on the basis of map dowsing and an anomaly reported by HMS Roebuck. Reconnaissance operations in that year by Mr Howard Murray and Mr Ian Archibald (of the Burntisland Heritage Trust) recorded 'ribs and other structural traces of a substantial unknown vessel' beneath the seabed with only small portions apparent above it. No artifacts were reported as having been discovered and no evidence has been published for the identity of the vessel.

No location for the discovery was initially published, but the Designation Order (dated 29 January 1999, to apply from 22 February 1999) defines the restricted area as a circle of 100m diameter around 56 02.407N 003 14.856W. No detailed description is given, but the location cited equates to an NGR of NT 22280 83722, placing the remains about 0.9nm SW of Burntisland harbour entrance, in a charted depth of 21m and just SW of the recommended channel to Braefoot Bay terminal.

Burntisland Roads (noted by the Hydrographic Office as Burntisland Road) is an extensive but ill-defined area of mooring grounds in a depth of between about 10 and 30m and centred around 56 02.7N 003 14.0W. Hilly ground affords protection to the N but the area is exposed to the SW, S and SE. The bottom is a mixture of sand, mud, coal and shell, and diving conditions are generally poor on account of reduced visibility by virtue of suspended mud and sand.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 8 November 2000.

HO chart 736 (1995 edition); NMRS, MS/829/14 and MS/829/26.

Geophysical Survey (2 August 2004 - 6 August 2004)

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Historic Scotland to undertake a geophysical survey of the Designated Site of the Blessing of Burntisland: a designated wreck site located within the Firth of Forth, Scotland. The work was undertaken as part of the contract for Archaeological Services in Relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973).

Wessex Archaeology survey operations took place between 2nd and 6th August 2004. All surveying took place off the survey vessel owned and operated by St Andrews University. Navigation data were recorded in WGS 84. This is Crown Copyright © Data collected and processed by Wessex Archaeology.

A Klein 3000 digital sidescan sonar system was used for the survey. This sidescan

sonar system collects data at both 100 kHz and 500 kHz simultaneously and

the 500 kHz data was processed to enable the identification of anomalies. Survey lines were run at 45-metre spacing throughout the survey area with a range setting of 50 metres. This ensured data coverage of greater than 200%. The data was collected digitally on a workstation using Klein SonarPro software, which stored the data in a suitable format for post-processing.

A Geoacoustics pinger source was used for the sub-bottom profile. Two orthogonal lines of sub-bottom data were collected over the site with the aim of characterising the sub-surface geological setting of the wreck site.

Information reported in Oasis (wessexar1-97941) 26 March 2013

Reference (2011)

Whittaker ID : 8507

Name : BLESSING

Latitude : 560230

Longitude : 31400

Registration : BURNTISLAND

Type : FERRY

Loss Day : 10

Loss Month : 7

Loss Year : 1633

Comment : Foundered off Burntisland. Capt. Watson

Reference (19 April 2012)

UKHO Identifier : 057231

Feature Class : Wreck

State : LIVE

Status : Historic

Classification : Unclassified

Position (Lat/long) : 56.04005,-3.24902

Horizontal Datum : ETRS 1989

WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 56.04005,-3.24902

WGS84 Origin : Block Shift

Previous Position : 56.04012,-3.24760

Position Quality : Precisely known

Depth Quality : Depth unknown

Water Depth : 21

Vertical Datum : Mean Low Water Springs

Name : BLESSING OF BURNTISLAND

Type : SV

Flag : BRITISH

Date Sunk : ??/??/1633

Contact Description : None reported

Original Sensor : None reported

Original Detection Year : 1999

Original Source : Other

Circumstances of Loss : **SANK WHILE CARRYING CHARLES THE FIRST'S PERSONAL EFFECTS.

**SUNK BY A SQUALL, WAS RETURNING TO ENGLAND AFTER CHARLES 1ST CORONATION TOUR OF SCOTLAND. (DIVER MAGAZINE MAR '99).

Surveying Details : **HH264/440/06 25.2.99 AREA WITHIN 100MTRS RADIUS OF 5602.407N, 0314.856W [OGB] DESIGNATED A RESTRICTED AREA. NOTED AS CINC FROM DRAFT DESIGNATION ORDER DTD 2.12.99. (STATUTORY INSTRUMENT 186/99 DTD 22.2.99). INS AS REST'D AREA, WK NOT CHARTED. - NM 1173/99.

**31.3.99 ARTICLE REGARDING DISCOVERY OF WRECK. (DIVER MAGAZINE MAR '99).

**HH264/440/06 14.4.99 ORIGINAL DESIGNATED POSITION WAS REFERRED TO [WGD]. (HISTORIC SCOTLAND, LTR DTD 6.4.99). AMEND POSN TO 5602.411N, 0314.771W [OGB]. - NM 1767/99.

**HH264/440/07 21.3.00 ORIGINAL DESIGNATED POSN WAS, IN FACT, REFERRED TO [OGB]. (THE CROWN ESTATE, FAX DTD 2.3.00). AMEND POSN. - NM 1632/00.

**4.7.02 [EUT] POSN: 5602.403N, 0314.941W. CINC DELETED, PUBLISHED IN DIVER. NE 735.

Chart Symbol : WK HIS

Charting Comments : REST'D AREA RADIUS 100MTRS, WK NOT CHARTED

Date Last Amended : 04/05/2010

Date Position Last Amended : 04/05/2010

References

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